The 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist for 2017 has been revealed and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sadio Mane, N’Golo Kante and Kylian Mbappe have all made the cut.
Aubameyang deservedly makes the list as his performances have kept on getting better each year, claiming the top scorer award for 2016/17 season in the Bundesliga
Sadio Mane has played a pivotal role ever since he joined Liverpool in the summer of 2016. His presence and absence on the pitch are equally felt as he is one of the top performers at the club. Many however believe that he does not belong on this shortlist since he spent the majority of 2017 out injured. The injuries saw him miss Liverpool’s crucial cup ties from which they were eliminated in one week, in addition to his performance during AFCON leaving skeptics with question marks.
Kante’s premier league seasons have been fairy tales. He has won back-to-back premier league titles with different clubs and he is regarded as one of the world’s best midfielders. He has spiced up his role as a defensive midfielder to a box-to-box one. His performance for Chelsea has seen him make several attempts in and out of the box, with successful conversions.
Mbappe’s inclusion comes of little surprise as his rise to stardom only continues to soar. He now holds the record of the youngest player to be nominated for the award, previously held by Michael Owen in 1998. Mbappe wasted no time showing that he is ready to fill in the big shoes even after there were fears that leaving Monaco was too soon a decision to make after just one season of football mayhem that saw him become the most sought-after striker in the transfer market at just the age of 18. But at 18 years and 9 months old, he fits in right away and has shown little to no signs of struggling to impress on the bigger stage.
The nominees are: Neymar (PSG), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Marcelo (Real Madrid), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Luis Suarez (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), David De Gea (Manchester United), Edin Dzeko (Roma), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund), Edinson Cavani (PSG), Mats Hummels (Bayern), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan), Isco (Real Madrid), Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Who is your favorite African descent player for this year’s Ballon d’Or award? Which African descent player should have made the list?
Featured Photo: Getty Images
